Good luck.

by domer.mq , Friday, April 10, 2026, 09:39 (47 days ago) @ Domer99

I am positive that recruiting varies quite a bit from sport to sport. Some things really evolved quickly from early in my daughter's JR year to now. Roster limits is a big thing now in Track/XC. Used to be a coach could just have as many as were willing to run on a roster if they wanted to. That was just a couple years ago. The House Ruling changed that, and so now the roster limits have really have a major effect on running and, we know from a friend, swimming. And that was all sort of happening real time last year. Early on we had a ton of D1 interest, and then it just kept collapsing. And you'd google and find out some kid from another D1 just transferred to the school who just sent you a thanks, no thanks email. That was rough.

The other thing with running recruiting is the massive international competition. My daughter (and us) really thought we were about to entirely wrap up the recruiting in October with a nice fitting school at a mid-tier D1 program, top 40 school. Her plan was to commit the day after the state xc championship. Day before the meet, they call her to say things have changed and the offer is no longer good.

Luckily that didn't derail her meet. I almost wanted to call up after states and tell them they're crazy. She just crushed the entire field across 1 thru 4A. But then I saw that they got a commitment from Australia's 4th or 5th best runner nationally. Ah well. In running, the Europeans, Africans, and Australians have all really taken over. They're basically pros, all entering as "freshman" aged 20, and almost all of them with their own sponsorship deals already, so the schools don't even have to offer money to entice them, just access to the school and the coaching and training. I don't begrudge these folks for taking advantage of the opportunity, but when it directly affects your kid is sure does sting. And when you think about the state schools, you kind of wonder how the priorities are all aligning with the given mission of the schools.

My only real advice is to try to prep you kid as much as possible for the experience. EVERYONE will be extremely nice and really show a lot of love until they no longer want your kid, and then it's just an absolute cold cutoff after an email or call. It's one thing as a parent, but my daughter had literally never seen this kind of human interaction before, and then she got it from 3 or 4 schools. It was hard on her.

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Sometimes I rhyme slow sometimes I rhyme quick.